BOULDER ,CO–OCTOBER 22ND 2010–Colorado University head coach, Dan Hawkins, leaves the field after loosing to the Texas Tech Red Raiders 27-24 at Folsom Field Saturday afternoon. Andy Cross, The Denver Post

It has been two days to absorb the biggest collapse in Colorado football history, but Buffaloes coach Dan Hawkins does not regret the offensive strategy in a fourth quarter in which they blew a 28-point lead.

After Rodney Stewart’s third touchdown gave Colorado a 45-17 lead early in the fourth quarter, the Buffs called only four more running plays. Kansas scored 35 unanswered points and won, 52-45.

“We’d thrown it so well,” Hawkins said on Monday’s Big 12 Conference call. “We didn’t want to totally get into a ground attack. We had success mixing it up. We had success running it and throwing it. We just didn’t want to be one-dimensional.”

True, his son Cody had picked apart a Kansas secondary that was the worst in the league. Entering the fourth quarter, Hawkins was 24-of-30 for 263 yards and three touchdowns. Also, with Kansas scoring two touchdowns sandwiched around an on-side kick, Colorado’s lead had dropped to 45-31 by the time it got the ball again.

However, 9:20 remained in the game, and the Buffaloes all but abandoned a ground game in which Stewart had 175 yards and three touchdowns. Against what appeared to be a stiff wind, Hawkins hit only 5-of-14 for 59 yards and an interception in the fourth quarter.

Dan Hawkins was asked if the wind was a factor.

“A little bit,” Dan said. “We’d thrown it in both quarters going that way. I wouldn’t say it was a massive factor by any means, but there was a little bit of a breeze.”

Hawkins was vague on many other questions, particularly if he would’ve changed any strategy offensively or defensively in that final period.

“There’s always stuff you’d do differently,” he said. “You’d make different calls and use different defenses. You’d always do that. You can always change a lot of things. When you have that many points scored in that amount of time, there’s always different opportunities in every phase of the game to tweak it.”

The loss, Colorado’s fifth straight, drops it to 3-6 overall and 0-5 in the Big 12. It must beat Iowa State (5-5, 3-3) Saturday and Kansas State (6-3, 3-3), both at home, then win at ninth-ranked Nebraska (8-1, 4-1) Nov. 26 to qualify for a bowl and avoid a fifth straight losing season.

Athletic director Mike Bohn has refused to comment on his plans for Hawkins but he has not denied reports that he will be fired. Hawkins sounded resigned to his fate when asked about it on the conference call.

“Life makes no promises,” he said. “Life’s an adventure and there are always risks to be taken and that’s the nature of this job and this profession. I don’t think you walk around with that haunting you. I don’t think that’s your driving force by any means.”

Bohn is expected to meet with Hawkins sometime this week. Sources say Bohn is reluctant to fire him before the season ends in order to keep the continuity with Cody, the lone scholarship quarterback available.

Dan Hawkins has given no indication that he’ll quit.

“You have to do what you think is right, and you have to do it to the best of your ability and let it go,” he said. “You win a bunch of games it doesn’t mean you’re a genius and if you don’t it doesn’t mean you’re awful, either. It’s always somewhere in the middle.”

He said he’s not concerned about his own feelings as his year winds down with a five-year mark of 19-39.

“I’m mostly concerned about our players and their feelings and their emotions,” he said. “That’s the thing I’m always most concerned about.”

He did say he sent to the league office film of two controversial fourth-quarter calls. Colorado players said walk-on Buff Cameron Ham recovered the onside kick and that Paul Richardson indeed caught that 7-yard TD pass with two seconds left.

Footnote: The Nov. 20 Kansas State at Colorado football game at Folsom Field was not selected for broadcast by the Big 12 TV partners. Kickoff has been set for 12:10 p.m. local time.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tyreek Hill didn’t know what to do when he started hearing thousands of people in Arrowhead Stadium chanting his name, even as he stood all alone on the frozen turf waiting for the punt.